Western

MHG Tower has received approval from a city technical review committee to begin construction on a new Marriott hotel in downtown Asheville. The nine-story hotel will be built on the site of the former BB&T building parking garage. The 17-story main building will later be converted into condominiums and a boutique hotel.

The Carolina Textile District – a regional network of more than 80 manufacturers and other businesses – is helping its members pool supply-chain resources and create new jobs in Western North Carolina's textile industry.

Cheri Beasley, an associate justice, was confirmed the winner in the statewide N.C. Supreme Court race after a recount was completed Monday. The final tally showed Beasley received 5,410 more votes than opponent Mike Robinson, a Winston-Salem lawyer, out of more than 2.4 million votes cast. Beasley was appointed to the seat in 2012.

Boone-based Appalachian Mountain Brewery Inc. is seeking permits to add cider to its operation. The company's CEO says Hard Mountain Cider LLC, a subsidiary of the brewery, already has a winery permit from the federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau to produce hard cider. The cider operation will likely start with three employees, and production could begin by the end of this year.

Raleigh-based McConnell Golf will acquire The Country Club of Asheville – North Carolina's oldest private country club – for an undisclosed amount. When the deal closes, McConnell Golf will own ten golf clubs in the Carolinas. The company acquired Greenville's Brook Valley Country Club last month.

Buncombe County's hotel occupancy rate reached 86.2% in October, a 7.1% increase over last year's rate and the highest ever, according to hotel-data company STR Global. Asheville Convention & Visitors Bureau plans to spend a record $4 million on advertising for the fiscal year which began July 1 (Statewide, October).

Pardee Hospital' board of directors decided not to renew the contract of Chief Medical Officer Robert Kiskaddon, who had served in the position for four years. The 222-bed Hendersonville hospital did not give a reason for the decision or announce whether an interim CMO has been appointed.

A state board has suspended the license of a contractor from Independence Oil and LP/Gas who performed faulty work on a pool heater at a Boone hotel where three guests later died from carbon monoxide poisoning. The board previously suspended the license of a heating contractor from Boone-based DJ's Heating Services for failing to recognize problems with the pool heater at the Boone Best Western following the first two deaths.

Asheville-based DoctorDirectory has been acquired by New York-based Everyday Health for $65 million and the company expects to add up to 20 employees to its existing 81 by year-end. Located in Asheville since 1999, DoctorDirectory provides communication between doctors and pharmaceutical companies.

Oak Valley Hardwoods, a Charlotte-based subsidiary of China-based Tides and Times Group USA, will create 114 jobs and invest more than $10.1 million in a lumber operation in Robbinsville. The company will take over the former Stanley Furniture factory, where 400 workers – about 13% of the workforce in Graham County – lost their jobs when the company shuttered the plant earlier this year (Statewide, May).

Charlotte-based Belk will close its retail store at Asheville's Biltmore Square Mall by the end of January, a company spokeswoman said. The mall is being transformed into an outlet center that is expected to open in the spring. Belk has another local store at Asheville Mall on Tunnel Road.

Shareholders of the Country Club of Asheville will vote Nov. 19 on whether to sell the 120-year-old golf club to Raleigh-based McConnell Golf. If the deal is approved, McConnell will assume up to $2.3 million in debt and invest at least $4 million over three years.

Plasticard Locktech International will add up to 50 new jobs with the next two years, CEO Mark Goldberg said last week. Asheville-based PLI, which on its website calls itself the world's largest manufacturer of plastic hotel key cards, became employee-owned earlier this year.

Linamar will add 150 jobs with an average annual salary of $42,667 and invest $115 million in its Arden plant, where the Guelph, Ontario-based company will make gears for automatic transmissions for an unnamed automobile-maker. About 200 people currently work at the plant, which makes parts for diesel engines and off-road vehicles.

A Duke Energy spokesman told the Asheville City Council residents would not have enough electricity for daily activities if the company shut down its local coal-fired power plant. Earlier this month, the Sierra Club presented the Charlotte-based utility with a petition signed by local businesses asking for the plant to be closed.

Sierra Nevada has opened a tasting room for visitors who complete a 90-minute walking tour of its Mills River brewery. The Chico, Calif.-based beer maker plans to open a restaurant and music room in January. Sierra will brew about 200,000 barrels of beer annually when the brewery reaches full production.

Eighty Asheville-area businesses sent a letter to Duke Energy CEO Lynn Good asking for the closure of the company's coal-fired power plant in Skyland. The letter calls the plant the "largest single source of carbon pollution in Western North Carolina" and accuses the utility of illegally polluting the French Broad River through coal-ash seepage.Update: Coal-campaign letter bewilders some businesses

Gov. Pat McCrory helped GE Aviation celebrate the grand opening of its Asheville plant, where the company will manufacture jet-engine components. The plant will employ 52 workers as part of a 2013 commitment the company made to create 242 new jobs in North Carolina by 2018.

An improved fall foliage forecast could fill hotels in Western N.C., according to a report from Western Carolina University. More tourists are expected this year compared with 2013, when a federal government shutdown during the first 15 days of October forced campgrounds and visitor centers to close.

A Wake County Superior Court judge ordered the state Board of Elections to include at least one on-campus early voting site at Appalachian State University. The Watauga County elections board removed the long-standing voting site prior to the May primary. Opponents of the plan to remove the voting center say it makes it harder for students, who are more likely to vote Democratic, to cast ballots.